The present invention relates to a curing cell for storing burley tobacco for curing and more particularly to an apparatus and method for assembling a portable curing cell assembly having holding means for storing a plurality of tobacco laden tobacco rods.
Burley tobacco plants grow as relatively tall stalks with the tobacco leaves growing radially out from the stalks. Typically, when the burley tobacco stalks are cut down, the widest portion (bottom of the stalk) of the main stem is manually skewered onto a stake or rod which has a sharpened point affixed or attached at one end thereto. Generally, the rods are about five or six feet long, and about five or six different stalks are threaded onto each stake. After the threading process, the stakes would then be transported to wooden curing sheds for curing the tobacco.
The tobacco rods or stakes were usually suspended in levels or tiers within the curing sheds, generally three or four tiers of tobacco stakes would be hung within any single curing shed. The stakes were fairly tightly packed within the curing shed and this condition necessitated a relatively long time for curing the tobacco.
The tobacco stakes were either carried to the curing sheds by workers or loaded onto trailers and driven to the curing sheds. Once at the sheds, the stakes were manually transferred to the supports within the curing shed. Mechanical means, such as the tobacco stick elevator disclosed by Arnold U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,386, may have been used to raise the tobacco sticks to their appropriate tiers within the curing shed where they would then be manually transferred to racks within the curing shed.
In general, the conventional process of harvesting burley tobacco and hanging it in curing sheds is a fairly labor intensive operation requiring a number of workers and a permanent curing shed structure. Also, the further the tobacco field is located from the curing shed, the more equipment, time, and manpower is expended in preparing the tobacco for curing.
References related to roofed structures in general which may be of interest to the present invention include U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,080 to Grieb et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,988,810 to Wilken, U.S. Pat. No. 2,832,362 to Critoph, U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,032 to Jutras, U.S. Pat. No. 715,185 to Warner, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,425 to Le Bourgeois. U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,154 to St. Clair discloses a method and means for anchoring a dismountable building by means of earth penetrating members. U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,678 to Lamson, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,279,133 to De Korte pertain to boundary markers in general.